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Annapolis Teen, Friend He Got Out Of Jail Featured On 'Ellen'

Brandon Harris and Sura Sohna have been friends since the fourth grade. 

Ellen welcomed Brandon Harris, who explained how he helped his childhood friend Sura Sohna get released from prison 12 years before his sentence was originally set to end.

Photo Credit: TheEllenShow

Once inseparable, the Annapolis buddies went down separate paths later on in life. Harris would eventually go off to college and Sohna ended up in prison. 

When Harris learned about Sohna's incarceration, he wanted to do something to help. 

So, he founded started a project of "telling the stories of the ignored and forgotten," which focused on at-risk youths who get caught in the wrong crowd. 

The two friends were both recently featured on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," telling their stories.

"I wanted to understand [Sura's] life story in the most objective way possible," Harris said. "We had some tough conversations during that time and then tried to get a bigger picture."

"I felt kinda like sorry for myself [but] I was more happy for [Brandon] that he was doing a lot of good things with himself and it motivated me," Sohna said. "[It gave me] hope that I would be home soon."

In fact, Harris convinced a judge to let his friend out 12 years early. At the same time the two were re-kindling their childhood friendship, Harris started his non-profit called Brandon's Coalition for Success.

The organization works with Annapolis youth who are caught up in the school to prison pipeline and give them a future similar to Sohna's. With the help of his friend, Sohna is now looking to pursue his passion for photography by going to college for film production. You can watch the full interview by clicking here

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